HONOLULU – The Lions made a late push tie the game up but SMU held on and won their first game of the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic presented by Outrigger Hotels Hawai'i, 76-71.
 
Tyke Thompson continued his string of quality performances with a 17-point performance to complement his team-high 7 rebounds. Champ Spencer (13) and Christian Haffner (12) were the SMU Splash Brothers, draining four 3-pointers a piece. Kyle Greeley also scored double-digits with 10 points to go along with his five rebounds.
 
Saint Martin's (9-1, 2-0 GNAC) came out hot and rattled off a 9-1 run to start the game. The Saints continued to apply the pressure on the Lions (5-5, 3-2 Conference Carolinas) and with just under six minutes left to play SMU held a 19-point lead, 35-16. Saint Martin's went into the half with a 44-26 lead. The Saints shot 53% from the field, a scorching 64% from deep and 60% from the charity stripe.
 
Emmanuel came out in the second half and slowly chipped away at the SMU lead over the half. The Lions managed to trim the deficit to four 51-47 with 12 minutes left but SMU pulled away and regained a double-digit lead. With just over a minute left Emmanuel came back and had the chance to tie the game up at the line but missed the free throw and it was a one point game, 72-71 game. Greeley active his clutch gene and laced a fade-away to give the Saints some cushion. SMU secure the win, 76-71.
 
Head coach Aaron Landon reflected on the victory, "That was a big win, Emmanuel is a great program and KJ Jones II is one of the best scorers in America. We were really bad with turnovers tonight but our guys made some big plays late on both ends of the floor in winning time."
 
Saint Martin's is back on the court today against Chaminade University at 7:45 PST. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.